Description

When the Army officer and politician Francis Rawdon-Hastings (1754-1826) arrived in Calcutta to serve as Governor-General in October 1813, British India comprised three presidencies and was beset by problems relating to warring states, weakened armed forces, insufficient funds, and rebellious Gurkhas and Maratha chieftains. This brief first-person account discusses these problems, touching especially on the war against Nepal (1814-16) - after which the Governor-General was created First Marquess of Hastings - and the offensive operations against Pindari raiders and restive chieftains in the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-18). First published in 1824 to justify Hastings' political, military and financial conduct in office, this work offers direct insight into a colonial leader's mentality and the strategic thinking behind the expenditure of blood and money for the furtherance of British imperialism.